Former Daily Show coworkers Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart reunited on Friday’s Late Show to reminisce about their Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear — which occurred exactly 10 years ago, on October 30th, 2010 — and discuss the upcoming election.
“I remember that [rally],” Colbert said when Stewart surprise-called the Late Show to wish Colbert a happy 10th anniversary. “200,000 people showed up! We had so many great performers: Jeff Tweedy, Mavis Staples, Ozzy Osbourne, Sheryl Crow, Tony Bennett sang ‘America the Beautiful.’”
“Wow, what a day it was, we really showed… Glenn Beck,” Stewart replied, adding that — despite its lack of impact — they should hold the rally again. Colbert declined.
Turning the subject to the upcoming election, Colbert asked Stewart about how he’s holding up. “I’m not good, Steve. I’m not good. I’m terrified. I’m terrified, I’m anxious, I’m lonely, I’m wishing it was 2010 again,” Stewart said. “Between the election and the pandemic, how much can soup and ammunition can one man have, Stephen?”
Stewart added, “Do you remember I came on the show 11 days after Trump’s inauguration and it had already felt like he had always been president. I remember saying, ‘The presidency is supposed to age the president and not the people.’ Do you know how long that was? 271 years… I just wanna know what’s going to happen. I wanna know how much more longer we have to keep going through this, where we are in this marathon.”
As for rumors that Trump could tie up election results past November 3rd, Stewart said, “We don’t even know if we’ll know on Tuesday!”
Stewart then asked Colbert, “Did you ever imagine, in your wildest dreams, that this would be life?”
“No, and I read a lot of science fiction. A lot of dystopian future, and I just never knew how stupid our leaders would be,” Colbert said. “I thought they would be purely evil.”
Colbert then recited some Lord of the Rings — from memory! — to ease Stewart’s troubled mind. Before the interview ends, however, Tony Bennett Zooms in to quickly serenade the two hosts with “America the Beautiful” to mark the 10-year anniversary.
